


White Christmas

by ClockworkSeraph



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: BECAUSE APPARENTLY I CAN WRITE NOTHING ELSE, FLUFFY ANGSTY CHRISTMASY GOODNESS, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8870701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkSeraph/pseuds/ClockworkSeraph
Summary: Jack is wistful in SEP, and Gabriel finds a way to make him feel at home, and somehow, Christmas seems to be the best time for Miracles.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jive/gifts).



> My Gift for Jive at the R76 Discord Secret Santa! Enjoy! :*

Christmas, Gabriel figured, was just another day when you were a soldier, super enhanced or not. Stuck at where they were, it wasn’t exactly a cozy little winter wonderland.

At least the food tended to better this time of year, roasted turkey and stuffing replacing the plain old chicken breasts and steamed vegetables. Not to mention the pies, slices large enough to satisfy even his own large sweet tooth. 

Working on his third slice, this one chocolate pecan, Gabriel brushed crumbs off the file he was reading to his new charge. Recently inducted into the program, Gabriel had taken one Jack Morrison under his wing, the skinny little blond taking surprisingly quickly to the rigorous environment.

“-So, they want us to work on your accuracy, but believe that with the next round of injections your speed can be- Jack!”

Snapping out of it, Jack jumped, nearly upturning his mess tray before turning to Gabriel with a sheepish smile. 

“Oh! Sorry! What were you saying?” Giving his charge a deadpan stare that seemed to strike fear in the hearts of everyone but Jack, Gabriel sighed, gesturing to the papers in front of him.

“Whatever’s going on in your head seems to be much more interesting than your reports, so please, share, because this the fourth time today I’ve had to drag your ass back to earth.” At least Jack had the decency to flush, his freckles popping out amidst the pinking skin.

“A-ah, sorry! I was just thinking about home, is all. Christmas is a big deal in my family. First time I won’t be able to be there.” Sadness briefly settled over Jack’s face, and Gabriel found himself with a rather out of place feeling of guilt before Jack brightened again. “I wonder how much snow they got this year. Ma always made the best peppermint ice cream when it first fell-”

Gabriel’s lips quirked up as he let Jack go on about Christmas on the farm, a new feeling of warmth settling into his gut at just how happy Jack looked. A wisp of wistfulness fluttered in his heart as he thought of his own Mama and his three younger sisters. Gabriel had made sure they were sent money, but he knew his mother prayed to see him again someday, and he wondered how big the triplets had gotten since he last saw them four years ago. It had been right around Christmas, actually, the last one he was able to go home before he joined SEP, the weight of the rosary Mama gave him heavy on his chest next to his dog tags. Not that he particularly cared any more for religion, but, he loved his Mama, and somehow, it seemed to be a lucky charm.

“And you tease me for drifting off?” A laugh brought him out of his musing, Jack’s grinning face replacing his Mama’s. “Do you miss them?”

“Every day.”

“I always wondered what it would have been like to have siblings...Sledding by yourself isn’t much fun!” Wrinkling his nose, Gabriel snorted, waving around a forkful of pie.

“I’m used to the warm ocean and the sandy beaches, cabron. Much better then that cold wet shit you farm boys love so much.”

“It makes everything so beautiful, though. And you just have to have a white christmas at least once, Gabriel.” Thoughtful as he took a bit of his own pie -apple, Gabriel had to notice with a mental chuckle- Jack brightened again. “Maybe one year, you can come home with me! I’m sure my family wouldn’t mind.”

“Sure thing, Boy Scout.” Laughing as they finished their dinner, Gabriel couldn’t find the heart to argue with Jack, being the newbie’s first Christmas away from home, but as the days went by, he could tell the boy scout was definitely dejected, no matter how bright he smiled for everyone else.

Jack, contrary to what others believed, didn’t always wear his heart on his sleeve. He was the smallest of the bunch of new recruits, the youngest, and knew he had to shape up and prove his worth more than anyone to be allowed to stay.

But alone on Christmas Eve, in the suite he and Gabriel shared, he could be a little wistful, to imagine his walls were honey golden wood instead of cold steel, and that he could feel his mother’s hand knotted rugs under his feet then the stiff carpet. Sure, their basic needs were met, but as the holidays got closer and closer, Jack found he missed even the smallest touch. His mother’s ice cream made with the first snowfall of the season, laughing with his father as they hauled the Christmas tree in…

Sighing as he tossed and turned in his cot, Jack burrowed into the thin blankets, missing his grandmother’s thick quilts, and grandfather’s special hot cocoa. It must have been nearly midnight, but he just couldn’t fall asleep. At least they were all given a free day tomorrow, so he could just rest. 

Eventually, he would drift off to sleep, dreaming of a snow dusted country christmas, unaware of the small wrapped gift placed on his nightstand…

Blinking at it the next morning, Jack carefully untied the gold bow, opening the shiny blue box to peer inside.

A snow globe?

Lifting it up, Jack gave it a careful shake, a bright smile lighting up his face as he peered inside to see, of all things, a little farmhouse! Winding the key, the notes of “White Christmas” filled his ears, both inflicting homesickness, but somehow, also making it easier to bear.

Gabriel denied it giving it, of course, even as a smile curled at the corner of his lips, but Jack knew, and a small seed of something was planted in his heart.

And every year since then, even when they graduated SEP, and joined Overwatch, on Christmas Morning, there would always be a new snow globe waiting for Jack, wrapped in blue paper with a golden bow. Jack would always ask Gabriel if he gave it, and would always get only a soft smile in return even as he denied it.

Jack’s favorite was the double snow globe, each orb holding a bird, one an owl and one an eagle, both with a heart in their beaks, from the year where they finally admitted their feelings for each other.

And when it lay broken on the floor after the explosion, Jack, as his ears rang and his vision blinded by his own blood, his mind numb, shakily reached for the owl, tucking it into his jacket as he ran.

And somehow, over the years, through battles and bullets, grenades and recoil, it always held up.

When Overwatch was recalled, it came with him to Gibraltar, perhaps a little worn, but a comfort, the only thing he had from happier times.

Sighing softly, Jack could only stare at the ceiling of his room, all sense of sleep forsaking him even at his clock blinked a soft twelve am. He could hear the waves in the distance, and as if Nature was trying to cure the pain in his heart, a soft pattering of rain as well. It was a rare thing for Gibraltar to have, and appreciated, but it just wasn’t the same.

It was a dream, that affected him so deeply enough to rouse him from even medicated sleep, and a place in his heart long thought dead ached at the thought of it.

Not a nightmare, surprisingly, but instead, memories of a Christmas long since past, before politics and pride drove wedges between hearts that had once been close enough to be as one.

Reaching for his communicator, Jack flicked open his music playlist. Searching for, then hovering his thumb over, one song in particular, putting in his earbuds, he closed his eyes as the first notes played softly into his ears.

“I’m dreaming of a white christmas...just like the ones I used to know…”

The next morning, amidst the heaps of shiny paper and sparkling ribbons, as the rest of the Base celebrated merrily in the common room, while it was nice to finally have the company of friends new and old, it just wasn’t the same, and he missed Gabriel more than ever. It would have been twenty years, now...

Trudging his way back to his room a few hours later, claiming a headache, Jack managed to evade another round of Reinhardt’s eggnog-fueled karaoke, intent on simply trying to sleep until the day was over.

To his surprise, there was a package, neatly set on his nightstand, wrapped in blue paper, with a golden bow. Thinking it a gift from Angela, perhaps, or Ana, Jack peered at it for a tag, and unable to find one, frowned at it. Nobody could have gotten into his room save for two people, and one of them was…

Shaking his head, Jack opened the box, his fingers curling around the smooth surface as he lifted the object out, tears welling into his eyes as they widened.

A snow globe? 

Shaking it, Jack peered inside, his throat tightening as he slowly sat down on his bed.

An Eagle and an Owl, perched together on a branch, cuddling amidst the slowly falling snow. With a shaking hand, Jack wound up the key, and as the first few familiar notes chimed in his ears, he could swear that Gabriel was with him again, whispering into his ear, a cold hand wiping away the tears falling down his cheek before lips pressed to the damp skin.

“You still owe me that white christmas, Jack.”


End file.
